From Autos To Zippers, He Knows Where To Get Repairs

May 12, 1988|The Morning Call

For Ron Shegda, the Lehigh Valley Repair Directory is much more than a guide for getting zippers fixed or sleigh bells patched up.

The directory gives greater visibility to a hidden aspect of the Lehigh Valley economy - the repairs industry. And it marks the beginning of Shegda's community and economic development strategy based on the concept of regeneration.

Put another way, Shegda hopes his planting of an acorn, the directory, will grow into a large oak tree - a regenerative economy that attracts young people to fixing and preserving things to keep these skills and traditions alive.

He is aware that his plan is in opposition to a worldly society of environmental waste and obsolescence.

It's not surprising, then, that the directory has a list of recycling programs in the Lehigh Valley. Shegda speaks of the close link between repairs and recycling.

Future projects on Shegda's regeneration drawing board include encouraging shopkeepers and repair specialists to open manufacturing plants and an apprenticeship program to teach repairing skills to young people.

The directory has been launched as a public service by the New Generation Press of Emmaus, a small, fledgling company headed by Shegda, the president, and David Brown, business manager, and operated from Shegda's home.

The directory project cost New Generation Press $50,000.

"We still have expenses to meet. Although the book is first-rate, there's definitely not a penny of profit in the picture. We're simply looking to cover our costs," Brown said.

The handy 60-page book is intended as a "practical resource," said Shegda, who explained it contains some listings not found in any other directory and shows repair services for more than 100 items, covering communities from Easton to Kutztown and Coopersburg to Slatington.

It is not intended to replace any others but rather to be a supplemental directory.

The book has been two years in the making and is designed as a regional guide to more than 1,200 shops that do all sorts of repair work for businesses and households in Lehigh and Northampton counties and eastern Berks County.

Shegda said the directory will be freely available at more than 50 public locations, such as markets and libraries.

Brown said if the public response is good enough, the plan is to have a second printing later this year.

The initial printing was 10,000 copies, financed mostly by charges for the ads and listings of repair businesses.

There are tentative plans to print 10,000 more this year, Brown said.

The book would be expanded and updated annually if there is wide public acceptance.

That growth concept itself could be called regenerative marketing, said Brown.

Another example of regenerative marketing could be the use of the directory by service groups and non-profit organizations to raise funds, with New Generation Press receiving a share to cover its costs.

"That would be a situation where everybody wins," Shegda said.

Regeneration is an ancient idea, Shegda noted.

It is contained in the Bible and has direct spiritual application in that it can restore individuals to personal satisfaction and happiness, and can heal family and community divisions by promoting a work-together atmosphere in daily living, according to Shegda.

Readers can use the directory to participate in the company's regenerative work, he said.

Shegda and Brown are hoping some shopkeepers and fix-it tradesmen will be encouraged by a surge in their small businesses, so much so that more of them will move to the next phase, manufacturing.

"We cannot have a zero manufacturing economy, despite all this talk of a services-oriented economy," he said.

The next project Shegda and Brown have in mind is a companion publication to the directory.

It will be titled "Creating a Regenerative Economy (The First Steps)."

New Generation is completing financing for this second major effort and hopes to publish it this summer.

Shegda said that because not enough young people are learning repairs skills, he also proposes creating a Lehigh Valley Apprenticeship Program, matching vocationally oriented young people with established crafts people.

Shegda and Brown met in the Lehigh Valley but both are graduates of the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania.

Shegda, originally from Philadelphia, came to Emmaus after completing graduate studies in public policy at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

The directory asks for suggestions for improvement and contains an envelope that can be used to send a donation of $5 or more to the company at 48 N. 3rd St., Emmaus.